Judge Hears Motions in Facebook "Threat" Case

The charge against Justin Carter, the New Braunfels teen accused of making a terroristic threat on Facebook, should be dropped because a detective lied in an affidavit, Carter's lawyer argued in Comal County District Court Tuesday.

Carter made international headlines when Carter, then 18, was charged in April 2013 for allegedly writing "I think I'ma shoot up a kindergarten" during a Facebook conversation, landing him in jail on a $500,000 bond.

But attorney Don Flanary claimed in a motion that Austin detective Mac McKelvey misled a magistrate judge in order to obtain an arrest warrant by excluding the other half of the conversation. This led the judge to believe "that Justin Carter's alleged statement was not part of a discussion, but rather was an un-elicited statement meant to stand on its own," according to the motion.

The comment at issue is one of four between Carter and someone using the profile name "Hannah Love." The complete thread is not available on Facebook, and prosecutors' key piece of evidence is a cell-phone screenshot of those four comments.

Flanary told us in February that when Carter was originally assigned a public defender, prosecutors offered an eight-year prison sentence if he pleaded guilty -- an offer that was substantially reduced to ten years' probation when Flanary stepped in. (Carter had spent six months in jail before an anonymous donor posted his bond. Flanary claims that Carter was sexually assaulted in jail).